Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust
Complaints Case Handler
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Company Description
Working as a partnership, both Isle of Wight NHS Trust and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust have a shared vision for excellence in care for our patients and communities; with a set of strategic aims underpinning how we will achieve this. The single corporate service is delivered across both organisations. You may be based at either IWT or PHU and individuals may be required to undertake business travel between sites. For leaders managing staff across multi-site locations, you will need to be visible and provide in person leadership. The arrangements and frequency will be agreed locally.
Job Description
NHS Band 6 Salary: £39,959 - £48,117 per annum
Hours Per Week: Full-time 37.5 hrs
Contract Type: Permanent
Location: St Mary's Hospital, Parkhurst Road, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5TG
You will bring experience of working within the NHS, social care or a similarly complex environment, together with excellent administrative, written communication, listening and organisational skills. You will be able to absorb and analyse detailed information, produce high-quality reports and correspondence, maintain accurate records, and manage competing priorities and deadlines without losing attention to detail.
The successful candidate will be dynamic, compassionate and confident, with the emotional intelligence to communicate sensitively and the resilience to remain calm and professional when situations are highly challenging. You will exercise excellent judgement and diplomacy, work collaboratively across clinical and non-clinical teams, and be comfortable influencing others when standards, actions or learning need to be addressed.
You will also have experience of presenting information, delivering training, facilitating workshops and supervising or managing staff. If you are motivated by improving patient experience, thrive in a fast-paced environment and have the capability to handle complex work with professionalism, compassion and precision, this role offers an excellent opportunity to make a significant contribution across both Trusts.
As a Complaints Case Handler, you will:
- Manage and coordinate patient complaints from receipt to resolution, maintaining oversight of timescales, actions and communication.
- Listen carefully and compassionately to patients and families, identifying the key issues and responding appropriately to sensitive or distressing circumstances.
- Analyse concerns and support thorough, evidence-based investigations across clinical divisions.
- Quality assure response letters on behalf of the Chief Executive, ensuring they are accurate, clear, compassionate and of a consistently high standard.
- Build constructive relationships with complainants, clinical teams and senior stakeholders, using diplomacy and professional challenge where required.
- Facilitate and support Local Resolution Meetings, helping all parties navigate complex issues and reach a clear way forward.
- Identify themes, risks and learning opportunities arising from complaints, contributing to safer care and organisational improvement.
- Deliver training on customer care and complaints handling and provide leadership and support to junior members of the team.
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Specific Core Functions
The Post holder will be a key member of the Experience of Care Team with a focus on ensuring that the Trust’s response to complaints is of high quality and ensures that we are learning lessons and delivering quality improvements from this valuable form of feedback.
The post holder will support the Clinical Divisions to ensure that complaints are robustly investigated.
The post holder will ensure that all information relating to complaint handling is uploaded to the DCIQ system to enable transparency in complaints handling and support the provision of data to regulators as required.
- To triage all new complaints for action, ensuring that all complaints are acknowledged within 3 working days and that complainants are kept informed of progress at all times.
- To assist divisional teams in the production of formal written responses on behalf of the Chief Executive, ensuring a high standard of accuracy and quality.
- Attend Local Resolution Meetings, in support of divisional staff, capturing robust action notes, and ensuring support is provided to attendees.
- Manage the complexity of issues across consent, safeguarding and patient safety arising in complaints – escalating to the Experience of Care Lead and/or wider teams as and when required.
- Oversee the maintenance of accurate and relevant DCIQ information to ensure there is a robust system for producing accurate and timely reports and comply with Trust Information Governance policy and Data Protection Act.
- To work with the Complaints Administrator to co-ordinate the process of responding to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman when notification is received regarding complaints they intend to review, ensuring that relevant documentation is provided, and that Care Groups and Divisions are kept up to date with progress of review.
- Managing Freedom of Information requests ensuring that the information is provided to the FOI Team within the deadline set.
- Be able to constantly re-prioritise in the face of fluctuating volumes of work and be resilient in difficult and/or sensitive situations involving conflict, bereavement and challenge.
- To support senior staff in the production of action plans in keeping with the recommendations of complaints which are upheld by the Ombudsman.
- To produce and present regular training sessions for Trust staff in Customer Care and Complaints Handling.
- To support the Experience of Care Lead in providing regular updates on any emerging themes or serious complaints as part of the learning culture in complaints handling.
- Support the Experience of Care Lead to maximise the opportunities for learning from our patients and their families’ experience.
- Provide leadership, supervision, development and support to junior members of the team, acting as a positive role model at all times.
For full job details and person specifications please refer to enclosed job description.
We welcome enquiries from experienced Band 6 colleagues interested in this exciting opportunity and encourage interested applicants to get in touch and learn more about this opportunity. For further information about the role, or to arrange an informal discussion, please contact Samantha Johnson on 01983 534420 or [email protected].
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Qualifications
Essential
- Educated to degree level or equivalent experience in health or social care complaints handling.
- Proficient in the use of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, internet and database management.
- Staff and general management training.
Desirable
- PHSO Complaints Training - Taking a Closer Look – how to investigate and respond to a complaint.
Experience
Essential
- Experience of line management.
- Experience of complaints handling, including writing responses to complaints.
- Experience of working in a busy customer service environment.
- Experience of working within an NHS or Social Care environment.
- Experience of the implementation of projects that impact upon the reputation and functioning of a large organisation.
- Experience of creating presentations and presenting to large audiences.
- Facilitating workshops or training sessions.
Skills & Knowledge
Essential
- Excellent verbal, telephone and written communication skills.
- Advanced knowledge of NHS Governance and Risk Management.
- Knowledge of Data Protection Act or Freedom of Information Act legislation.
- Demonstrate tact and diplomacy when dealing with highly sensitive issues and maintain confidentiality.
- Well-developed influencing skills across hierarchies and disciplines.
- Ability to create comprehensive report and letters.
- Excellent presentation skills and experience.
- Excellent time management skills with the ability to re-prioritise.
- Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands.
- Skills for supporting project management.
Desirable
- Knowledge of the Local Authority, Social Services and NHS Complaints Regulations 2009.
- Knowledge and understanding of key agencies. E.g. Parliamentary & Health Service Ombudsman, Caldicott, Freedom of Information, Data Protection.
Additional Information
The health and wellbeing of our staff is at the forefront of everything we do. We are proud to be able to offer our staff some fantastic benefits including our on-site Nursery, access to our free Beach Hut for those long summer days, our on-site Wellness Centre including a gym and a swimming pool, access to our fantastic staff networks including LGBTQ, Race Equality and DisAbility, and awards ceremonies to recognise your achievements. We believe we can offer support to all of our staff when they need it the most.
We welcome the unique contributions that you can bring in terms of your education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, gender identity and expression, nation of origin, age, languages spoken, veteran’s status, colour, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and beliefs.
For more information, please see our People and OD Strategy 2026
Weekly Hours / Programmed Activities: 37.5
Salary Band: Band 6
Staff Group: Administrative and Clerical
Contract Type: Permanent
Job Area: Admin and Corporate
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